Local web developers launch online ticketing service

When local web designer Levin Mejia organized his first Go Beyond Pixels conference last year, he wasn’t happy with online ticketing options.

“There are a lot of online services that provide online registration and ticketing,” Mejia told The Telegram Friday. “One of the major things that we were trying to solve, as someone who’s done conferences, is that these services in general, what happens when you sell a ticket, the event organizer doesn’t see any of that money until weeks or months after the event is over.”

Even if an organizer sells all tickets for an event months ahead of when it’s scheduled to take place, he won’t see the money until long after the event has happened.

“As an event organizer, I can tell you that cash flow is something you need to pay for the venue, to pay for the speakers, all the costs that are associated with it,” Mejia said.

That frustration led him, with fellow Newfoundlander Jason Normore — who has worked for online web-commerce leader Shopify — to design Evey, launched earlier this week at www.eveyevents.com, an online event hosting service.

Organizers can use Evey to create event websites through which tickets can be sold, issuing printable PDF tickets as well as electronic tickets for apps such as Apple’s Passbook.

Tickets are customizable to an organizer’s event. Organizers and volunteers can also manage attendees with Evey for free, something other services charge for.

Mejia said he and Normore wanted to keep Evey’s fees simple: 2.9 per cent of the value of every ticket sold, up to a maximum of $7.50.

“Some of these other services actually charge for (check-in) or try to rent out equipment to you, and that’s just extra money that is going to take away from the funds you need to host an event,” he said.

With ticket buyers using Stripe or PayPal, funds are deposited in organizers’ accounts as soon as a ticket is sold, minus Evey’s percentage and Stripe’s transaction fee.

Evey’s website design also adapts to whatever device is accessing the page, whether it’s a desktop computer or a mobile device.

“So if you’re on a mobile device like an iPhone or an Android phone, the web page still looks great,” he said. “There’s no zooming in, zooming out.”

Users can create events for free, said Mejia. There are no fees until tickets are sold, and Mejia says fees for charity events or free events will also be waived, but users can still access all of Evey’s features.

“Our main goal is just to make it easier for event organizers — being one — making sure that people have the funds to pay for the costs that are associated with it,” said Mejia.